22
The beginnings
Thessaloniki, April 1972
Leonora folded yet another Babygro, putting it away neatly in the new chest of drawers by her side of the bed, adjacent to which lay the shiny red crib. She had left work early, and even worse, she had not yet officially started her maternity leave. Two weeks for maternity-related duties was what was allowed to a female member of staff. As the leave was so tight, she had been advised by one of her contacts in the administration department to claim sick leave to begin with. This was legitimate for caring for a sick child as well, she was told. The main reason she had not informed anybody in the hospital about her prospective leave, though, was that she did not yet believe that she would need it. Given that she was now the Head of the Psychiatry
